The Hybrid Wars
by Mahina
Summary: Buu Saga AU. Captain Gohan, elite warrior of the Saiyan Empire, goes undercover at a human high school to destroy Earth's secret weapon and end a four-decade old war. Dark!Gohan x Videl. Yeah, you know you love this shiz.
1. 00

King Vegeta looked down dispassionately at the young child straining against the cold metallic restraints of his sterile observation chamber. He allowed the smallest smile to twitch at the corner of his lips as he observed the scruffy boy's futile attempts to escape. This was certainly better than the pathetic _bawling_ the creature had been making earlier.

"Report," he ordered tonelessly to the scientist at his side. The alien was a purple and green-toned hominid from one inferior species or another. Saiyans as a rule did not produce technological genius—but they were strong enough and wealthy enough to take it from those who could. King Vegeta idly wondered if this one was a servant or a slave.

"Hemmm, hemmm…" The alien cleared its phlemy voice. "We've determined that he's….hemmmmmm-hemm…excuse me, hemmmmmm…"

Vegeta flared his ki in warning, and although the scientist didn't have a scouter he could feel the deadly pressure fill the hallway. The king was known to kill at the slightest displeasure. The scientist flushed and hurridly tried to form the proper words in his throat. The Saiyan tongue was hard on his vocal chords…not that the king understood or cared.

"He's a half." The scientist finally managed. "Hemmmm….A half-human, half-saiyan. A hybrid if you will."

King Vegeta's eyes narrowed as he shifted his attention back to the one-way observation glass. A hybrid.

"Let me be clear on this." Vegeta drawled carefully. "You are telling me that one of my men beget this monstrosity on a human bitch?"

"Yes, hemmm." The scientist replied. King Vegeta must have at least suspected this result, otherwise he would not have sent them the child for examination. "It appears that the father is—"

"I know who the father _was!_" Vegeta snapped. "And he has been executed for other acts of treason. But to think that he actually _mated_ with a human woman…disgusting. I did not think that such a union could even produce offspring." Vegeta turned his back to the observation chamber, where the child had ceased struggling and was now sniffling again. Vegeta sneered.

"I am satisfied with your report. You will be rewarded if word of this does not get out." The king waved one hand dismissively. "Dispose of the aberration immediately."

The scientist frowned. Dispose of him? But the research possibilities! To lose such a unique, powerful specimen would be a waste. It was not his place, but perhaps his king was letting the betrayal of the father cloud his strategic judgment. And again, the research opportunities...

The scientist took a gamble. The four-year-old child strapped to a wall in the room before them could buy him both his freedom and academic fame. He could not let it die before he had a chance to study it.

"At once, my lord." The scientist bowed, then paused. "_However_…hemmmm…"

Vegeta stopped mid-step out the door. "Yes, what is it?" He growled.

"Hemmmmm…" The scientist stalled. "King Vegeta, my lord…hemmm…it may interest you to know that while the child's parentage is undoubtedly human, his physiology is almost completely saiyan. Further, we have recorded fluctuations in power levels as high as 940000 when he is aggravated."

Vegeta whirled around, his face a mixture of incredulity and poorly masked shock. "You lie!"

The scientist reeled to avoid the king's whipping cape. "No, my lord." He said quickly. "Hemmmmm…surely you must have read Lord Raditz's report documenting his injuries on his last mission?"

Vegeta stiffened. "That was not in my briefing." He said coolly. Raditz would have some questions to face when Vegeta was done here.

The scientist could not help the smirk that surfaced. "Yes, hemmmm…well, it was not in his official medical forms either. Heh heh heh-hemmmm. One of my collegues took it down as testimony when Lord Raditz began rambling under anesthesia."

Vegeta scowled. "That's hardly reliable."

"No, hemmm." The scientist agreed. "But it did prompt us to test the child's reflexes and ki control. Interviews with the subject and personal observation indicate that he is completely untrained, yet his…hemmmm. The quantitative data from the scouters put him at a higher level than a mature third-class saiyan."

Vegeta considered this. "You are saying that he is stronger at the age of four than the bulk of my army?"

"He is a prodigy, sire."

Vegeta raised a hand to his chin and returned to the observation window. "A prodigy from birth. How very unlike his father." He mused.

The scientist privately wondered if the famous High General Kakkarot, who was the first to unlock he Super Saiyan transformation in a thousand years, could not be considered a prodigy as well. Even if he had been classified third-class at birth.

"You said he is physically a saiyan?" King Vegeta interrupted the scientist's thoughts.

"Hemmm…_physiologically_." The scientist corrected. "He is…hemmm, how to put it? A hybrid on the genetic level, but the DNA expression related to his physiology…hemmm…that is, musculature, skeletal structure, metabolism—"

"Spare me the details!" Vegeta snapped, flaring his ki for the second time. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"Only that his body is more like a saiyan than a human!" The scientist cried. The stress on his vocal chords sent him into a wracking fit of coughs, and for a few terrifying moments the scientist was sure his life was about to end as Vegeta grew visibly more impatient.

"He…the boy…" The scientist tried to recover. "We need more, hemmmm…tests, but he is hardly human at all. He has the Saiyan Potential."

Vegeta smirked cruelly. The Saiyan Potential to vastly increase strength after a brutal defeat. "You tested that?" The king snarked.

The scientist calmed slightly. "We did. His base power level increased 20 percent."

Vegeta crossed his arms and looked again through the window. The child had now fallen asleep. What a flighty temperament.

"The child." Vegeta said suddenly. "He cries, squirms, cries more, and then sleeps. That is not normal saiyan behavior."

This was what the scientist had been dreading. He needed to present the next results of his studies carefully.

"Yes…hemmm." The scientist said. "The child is, after all, hemmmm…half-human. We do not have much to compare to, but…hemmmm, my team suspects that his mentality is similar to a human. In his mind, he is human."

Vegeta scrutinized the boy's tear-streaked sleeping face. It was almost…innocent. Peaceful. The king's upper lip curled.

"Hemmm…" The scientist recaptured Vegeta's attention. "Humans are…hemmm…weak." The purple and green alien began, framing his next words as best he could. "But even you, my king, as a warrior must respect their technological prowess."

Vegeta made no sign of response, negative or positive. The scientist decided to continue.

"As a scientist, I do marvel at their achievements. Just twenty years ago they had rudimentary space travel. Now they have an empire. Hemmmm…you could say that industry is the Human Potential."

Vegeta's eye twitched. The scientist flinched, but the king did nothing.

"The boy, hemmmm…" The scientist said. "His intelligence scores are off the charts."

Vegeta raised a mocking eyebrow. "Like a human?" He sneered.

"Beyond some of my collegues," the scientist admitted. "A prodigy."

At this, Vegeta laughed. It started as a small chuckle, then grew into a full, sinister cackle. Finally, the king threw his head back and roared.

"He is stronger than my armies and smarter than my slaves!" The king guffawed. "And half-human to boot!"

"M-my lord!" The alien scientist stared bug-eyed.

Vegeta ignored him. Still snickering, he placed one hand on the observation glass.

"Kakarott, you fool." He said softly to the sleeping boy on the other side of the window pane. "You may have deserted me to cavort with humans, but you have provided me with the very weapon to destroy them. The irony is sweeter than the news of your death trying to protect this creature. I hope you are watching from the Otherworld, _Goku_."

The king turned back to the scientist. "Release him from the bonds and have him transferred to the nursery. Put him with the eight-year-olds. He starts training tomorrow."

Inside, the scientist smiled. _Checkmate, to use the human term_. He had to make sure the king thought this was all his idea, however.

"Hemmmm…" The scientist hedged with feigned uncertainty. "But my lord, his human mentality….are you sure?"

King Vegeta smirked. "His behavior can be fixed with the proper motivation. If he does not act like a saiyan, he will learn to be one. You say his ki spikes when aggravated? Make sure his peers understand that he is half-human as well."

The scientist bowed. "It will….hemmmm, be done." _I envy the boy_, the scientist thought. _The best of both worlds. It seems full-blooded Saiyans are too brutish to tell when they are being coached._

King Vegeta brushed by the scientist to leave, then stopped abruptly in the door again. He turned around and gave the alien deceptively casual once-over that sent chills down the scientist's spine.

"Tell me, scientist." Vegeta asked suddenly, intently. "Are you a servant or enslaved?"

The scientist nervously straightened his white researcher's coat and shifted his clipboard of charts and notes. "A slave, sire." He said as properly as he could given his difficulty with the saiyan tongue.

King Vegeta's black eyes seemed to drill into the alien slave's own milky orbs.

"Very well," He said, turning back to the door. "You may continue tests on him every third day. If your work pleases me, I will put you on payroll. If the boy you seem so adamant to protect _exceeds_ my expectations I will give you your freedom."

"M-my lord!" The scientist rasped.

"What?" Vegeta smirked, glancing over his shoulder. "Do you think I don't know what you scientists want?" His smirk faded. "Or that I am too stupid to recognize your pathetic attempts at subterfuge?"

"I—hemmmm!"

"Tch." Vegeta spat. "I know what your type thinks. Fortunately for you, I am also not too stupid to recognize a potential advantage in this war with the humans. I do not waste important military resources. You did right to stop me from disposing of him."

"Sire!" The alien scientist snapped, bowing crisply as a soldier would.

Vegeta sneered. "Don't flatter yourself scientist. Stick to your station. You're not free yet. If the boy fails me, you will die."

The scientist nodded mutely. He had expected as much. But even the threat of death could not dissuade him from reaching for his freedom.

"And if you ever try to manipulate me again, I will _personally_ see to your execution. Slowly."

The scientist paled.


	2. 01

"HA!"

"ON YOUR LEFT, TOMETO!"

"NUMBER SEVENTEEN!"

"GALLIC GUN—HA!"

"YOU _BASTARD!_"

Gohan opened his teal eyes and smiled as he floated above the battlefield, savoring the sounds of war beneath him. To think he'd worried about his men getting rusty on this latest tour. When Raditz had dispatched his unit to guard the passage of a supply convoy through "neutral" space, Gohan had been almost insulted. It seemed that fortune was on his side, however. Conflict loved to find him in the most unlikely places. Even on a barren moon on the outskirts of a backwater solar system.

Now. If only one of these insects could provide _him _a decent challenge. His men were getting a workout, but so far all Gohan had done was watch from a distance. The saiyan's tail twitched in agitation.

"Quite a sight, isn't it?" Said a voice to Gohan's right. The super saiyan threw the petite figure floating behind him a faint smirk.

"Colonel Krillin." The young squad leader gave his human counterpart a nod of acknowledgement. "You didn't register on my scouter."

Colonal Krillin grinned back. "You know that's not much of an insult, kid. Androids don't give off a ki reading."

"So they don't." Gohan agreed. "But it doesn't matter when you waste the element of surprise to banter with your enemy. We aren't having tea, you know."

Colonel Krillin shrugged. "Hey, you scare me." He admitted. "But you hold up a good conversation. I'd rather chat than fight with you any day. This battle is pointless to begin with."

Gohan grinned predatorily, teal eyes flashing. "No battle is ever pointless."

Colonel Krillin sighed theatrically and slapped a palm to his forehead. "That's what I hate about you, Gold Fighter. Just when I think we can have a good civil chat, you go all saiyan bloodlust on me."

A blur of fists and kicks rocketed by them, nearly careening into the two commanders. Neither was fazed. Gohan merely noted that Korun*, the newest addition to his squad, was having difficulty with his opponent, a burly android with earrings and a radical shock of orange hair. In fact, it looked like Gohan might have to intervene.

"Excuse me," Gohan said to the short human next to him. "I need to take care of that." He flickered into motion.

"Oh no, you don't" Colonel Krillin muttered under his breath, speeding after him. He cut off the young squad leader with a well-placed elbow strike to the abdomen. It was completely ineffective, but it did halt the super saiyan's pursuit.

"HA!" Gohan cried, tossing off a few low-level yellow ki blasts. Krillin dodged what he could, and dispelled the rest with his arms.

"Ow, man!" Krillin cried. "That stings! Are you trying to kill me?"

Gohan grinned. His smile had a cruel edge that could only be picked up from training at the feet of the Saiyan King, Vegeta. "Isn't that my job?" He retorted.

"Yeah," Krillin agreed. "And it's a damn shame, too. You seem like a nice guy otherwise."

Gohan phased in faster than Krillin could follow and knocked the wind out of him with blow to the solar plexus, followed by an elbow to the back of the head. He flickered again and sent the human android careening to the pitted grey surface of the barren moon.

"Nice guy?" Gohan parroted sarcastically to the falling figure. "Tch." He raised a palm and casually flung aside an energy blast Krillin threw as the human recovered and tried to break his descent. The small man righted himself and flew back to Gohan with blinding speed, inundating the saiyan with a flurry of blows. Gohan lazily traded strikes, before disengaging to examine his opponent.

"You've gotten stronger, Colonel." Gohan complemented sincerely. His heart rate was elevated and he could feel a real bruise forming on his forearm where he'd been too slow to properly block a punch. "Although, I guess mechanization will do that to you."

Krillin scratched his black hair modestly. "The missus had been after me to convert for years," he said. "We humans have to keep up with you monsters somehow."

Gohan smirked. "My comment about your age really got to you."

Krillin narrowed his eyes. "I'm only thirty-eight."

"You're an old man," Gohan replied.

"I am not!" Krillin protested. "I have more hair now than I did when I was your age!"

"I liked you better when you were bald, worm." Gohan said. In the corner of his eye he was keeping track of Korun's fight, which was still not going well. It looked like Tometo might be down for the count as well. "Less talking, more fighting!"

"Well said. HAAAA!" Krillan powered up in a flare of white energy and flew at Gohan. Gohan sidestepped and sent an energy ray to the air where Krillin had phased out nanoseconds before. To even Gohan's subordinates, Krillins' nimble frame and agile movements would be hard to keep track of. Gohan likened fighting the man to trying to swat a fly. It was amazing that the man was still alive after all their encounters on the field. Although, it could be that Gohan just liked skirmishing with him.

"Tell me, Colonel Krillin, what are the Z-fighters doing on this moon anyway?" Gohan shouted over blows and ki blasts.

"What are you saiyans doing in neutral space, Gold Fighter?" Krillin retorted.

Gohan shrugged off a near-hit to his cheek and launched into a combo of kicks and blinding punches. He wasn't fighting at full strength yet, but that was no excuse to get careless. Gohan would have to end this soon, but he hoped he might draw some information out of Krillin first.

"We're guarding a supply convoy, what does it look like?" Gohan said. "It's food and medicine. We can take that through whatever space we like."

Krillin snorted. "You need the _Gold Fighter_ to guard a convoy of _food_?"

Actually, Gohan had no idea what was in the freight ships his squad was escorting. He had suspicions, but knew better than to ask.

"You know how we saiyans are about food," Gohan laughed instead. "The question is what the Earth's elite protection unit is doing so far away from home. Android or not, you're still too old to be out on the battlefield."

Krillin shook his head. "I like you, kid, but you know you'll never get me to tell you."

"Very well then." Gohan sneered. All warmth drained from his eyes. "Playtime is over." The saiyan gave a brief shout, then let his power loose. Lightning flickered over the saiyan's bulking muscles as Gohan Ascended to the second level.

"Crap." Krillin muttered. Gohan smirked. In the blink of an eye the human colonel was dangling by the throat from Gohan's vice-like grip. The short man kicked and clawed futilely at the steely arm that held him in the air.

"Feel like telling me now?" Gohan baited.

"N-never!" Krillin gasped, loosing air.

"Pity." Gohan stated coldly. "Because you were always an amusing opponent. You actually managed to get my blood going today. I'm sure if I'd let our fight drag on it would have proved interesting."

"Hiiiiiii—" Krillin rasped.

"Guess even androids need air." Gohan observed. "You learn something new every battle."

Krillin fired a ki blast a Gohan's face, but the impact had no effect. Gohan tsked.

"Now that was pathetic." The saiyan rubbed at a smudge of scoring on his cheek absently. "Give my regards to Yenma in—"

Gohan's scouter cackled as the comm line opened. _"Captain Gohan! The ships are clear! Disengage the enemy and return aboard immediately!"_

"Tch!" Gohan spat. He glared at the suffocating human in his grip and pressed a button by his ear with his free hand to speak. "This is the Captain. I have the leader of the Z-Fighters at a disadvantage. How long do we have to get back to the ship?"

The scouter cackled again as the ship officer replied. _"No time at all! Captain Gohan, disengage immediately!"_

Gohan resisted the urge to argue. Perhaps he could take Krillin with them. The freight ships didn't have the facilities to detain a prisoner of the Colonel's strength, but the prize was tempting. Krillin's capture would be a tremendous political and strategic coup.

"Korun! Okura! Anyon!" Gohan shouted. "Break it up! We're pulling out!" Gohan looked to Tometo, unconscious on a rocky outcropping. "Okura, make sure Tometo's not dead."

"Aw, Captain!" Okura whined over where he had a scar-faced man with shaggy black hair in a head grip while ducking roundhouse kicks from a buxom blonde.

"No buts, Okura." Gohan snapped. "Drop the man and pick her up."

"Yea, yea." Gohan's sensitive ears picked up Okura's grumbling on the wind as he disengaged to gather up his wounded comrade, human bridal-style. The female's tail curled around Okura's wrist. If Gohan didn't know his subordinate better, he might have mistaken the flush of battle in the man's face for a blush. Gohan snickered and filed the slip-up for later examination.

Gohan turned his attention back to the human Colonel still dangling in his grasp. The man's face was turning an interesting shade of blue. Gohan fought down a brief flash of pity before deciding to power down and loosen his grip. He rationalized that the man was more use conscious for immediate questioning about other threats on their routes.

"HAAAA!"

Gohan's scouter barely had time to register a power surge of over three hundred million before a sharp pain to the back of his head caused his vision to blacken and sparks to dance at the corner of his eyes. Colonel Krillin, barely conscious, took advantage and twisted free, landing another weak but blinding blast of ki in his face for good measure.

"Argh!" Gohan cried, grasping vainly for his prize. He met a white tank top over a purple human-style shirt instead. His gaze flickered up to flashing teal eyes before a gloved fist came crashing into his face.

"That's below the belt!" The figure cried, pummeling him with a flurry of light blows.

"Wha…?" Gohan sputtered, trying to both guard himself and stop his bleeding nose.

"You pervert!"

Gohan felt a flash of irritation. He charged a ki blast powerful enough to split the sorry excuse for a moon they were fighting over in his hand and let it loose point blank at his attacker. The explosion knocked Gohan back, and he righted himself while searching for the escaped Colonel.

Nothing.

Alarm bells went off in Gohan's head, and he ducked instinctively as a powerful wave of energy blasted through right where the young captain had been floating a moment before. He whirled to face his opponent and his jaw nearly dropped in shock.

"You're a saiyan!" Gohan cried. It couldn't be anything else. Flying above him was a girl about his age, wearing the long white tank top and purple shirt he had grabbed earlier. Skin-tight shorts clung to her shapely legs, and black fingerless gloves pulled back from the form she'd used to fire the attack.

All those observations Gohan noted and filed to the side. What held his attention were the steely, blue-teal eyes and wisps of golden hair peaking out from under an orange baseball cap, trying to defy gravity. It was a super saiyan. She couldn't be anything less.

"Hah!" The girl cried. "I'm no monkey, _Gold Fighter_. Do I look like I have a tail?"

Gohan surveyed her again. Her clothes were so loose that she could be hiding anything under there. Gohan barely had time to open his mouth in reply before she was on him again, delivering round after round of crisp kicks and charged blasts with superhuman speed. Saiyan speed.

_Her blows hurt_, Gohan realized. He had powered down from Super Saiyan Two, but he was still well above her level. The scouter was only reading a power level of 50 million, almost the base level for achieving the Super Saiyan transformation. Gohan was not a green recruit, however. The saiyan captain had long since learned to disregard the scouters when fighting warriors from Earth. He had no idea what this girl was really capable of.

Gohan's face stretched wide in a feral grin. A challenge.

Gohan started seriously exchanging blows. Slowly, he turned the tide of attack until he was on the offensive. She was blocking his hits well, but Gohan saw an opening in her guard and took it. He froze, his fist a centimeter from her jaw.

"Gotcha." Gohan smirked. If that had landed, she'd be out. Super saiyan or not.

The girl flushed beet red and jumped back, putting distance between the two of them.

"Ka-me-ha-me—" She cried. Gohan recognized the attack as a Z-fighter favorite and readied his own Gallic Gun to counter it.

"Stop it!" Krillin's voice shouted from below. A succession of energy disks whizzed between them, forcing them to break their attacks and jump further apart.

"You!" Gohan shouted at the same time the girl opposite him yelped "Sir!"

"Yeah, me!" The short officer grumbled. "Girl, what are you doing out here looking like that? You were told to stay on the ship!"

"But sir!" The girl cried. "He was going to kill you! I couldn't let you die."

Krillin looked over at Gohan. "No." He said speculatively. "No, I don't think so."

Gohan furrowed his brow at the human. "Oh really?" He growled. "I think I've let you slip away far too long." He made to lunge at the colonel to recapture him when his comm went off in his ear again.

"_Captain Gohan,_ _where are you?_ _Your team is already back on the ship. We need you here now or we'll miss our launch window."_

"Can it wait ten seconds?" Gohan called back.

"_No."_ A new voice came on the line. _"This is the ship's Captain. Return now or I will have to report you to Lord Raditz for insubordination upon our return."_

Gohan's face twisted into an ugly snarl. His saiyan blood demanded that he rip off the scouter and crush it. There was a good fight in front of him and every fiber of his body screamed to pursue it. It had been so long since any opponent had truly pushed him. The girl in front of him and the man below might just be enough to bring him to the edge of victory and defeat. That delicious precipice of life and death that, when conquered, would give him greater strength and make him a better tool for his king and his people.

Gohan took a deep breath. For once the young captain listened to the human side. The infuriatingly rational voice that was cautioning him to calm down and follow orders. He was a leader to his team. He could not abandon them for a fleeting fight on a distant moon. Gohan could not become a loose cannon—His saiyan pride would not stand for the humiliation that would follow a court marshal.

"It looks like you're going to slip away again, Colonel Krillin." Gohan ground out with a scowl. He looked to the girl with saiyan features in human clothes. "Who are you, and why are you fighting your people?" He asked.

"I said you're not my people, ape!" The girl yelled. "I'm—"

"Girl!" Krillin barked. The girl whirled to glare at him. "Don't give me that look. Haven't you done enough damage today?"

The girl scoffed. "I saved your life, you ingrate!" She shouted petulently.

"Get back to the ship, _Private_." Krillin snaped.

The girl grimaced. She floated off, pausing for one last glare at Gohan who couldn't help but return it with a dark smirk. Later he would puzzle over why a saiyan was fighting with the Z-Warriors, but for now he just admired the way her skin tight shorts left nothing of her well-toned thighs to the imagination. Wow.

"Later, boy!" Krillin chirped at Gohan once he was sure the girl was on her way. Gohan growled in response.

"_Captain Gohan!"_ Buzzed his comm line, _"Where are you?!"_

"On my way." Gohan replied sullenly, tapping the scouter's transmit button. "Bastards." He muttered after his finger clicked the line off.

As he flew back to the ship, Gohan swore he heard a voice shouting in the distance.

"Gold Fighter! I promise, the next time we meet is the day you die!"

Gohan felt his saiyan blood pumping. He was looking forward to it.

**A/N**

* The saiyans are all named after vegetables. Imma gunna continue with that. Korun is corn. Okura is Okra. Anyon is Onion. Tometo is obviously tomato.

Thank you so much everyone for the reviews! This is definitely the best response I've had for a piece of writing posted to the internet. It's really encouraging for continuing this story. I'm posting this chapter a day earlier than planned because of that. I hope I can continue to keep you entertained.

Mr. Rogers, you make me sad! You left me my first and most detailed review…but anonymously! King Vegeta in this story is indeed our ill-tempered prince, ascended to the throne. I'd sort of wondered if that was clear when I wrote the prologue, but I wasn't sure how to put it in. Vegeta even looks a lot like his father, so physical cues aren't helpful. About Goku…His ultimate fate is something Gohan will have to discover on Earth. So all in good time, all in good time~


	3. 02

Radditz was already growling when he stalked into the debriefing room at the Saiyan Royal Forces' headquarters.

"I understand you had a little trouble with the chain of command on your latest mission, halfbreed." The saiyan lord spat. "It was a simple escort job, how could you turn it into such a near disaster?"

Gohan barely glanced up from the colorful Earth toy he was examining in his fingers. Fraug, the son of one of the alien doctors that periodically poked and prodded him in the research department, had given him has a welcome-home gift at the spacedocks earlier this morning. It was called a 'Rubix Cube' or something like that. The bright squares were an eyesore, but the puzzle was engaging.

Gohan had solved it three times already. Now he was now competing for speed.

"As if that wasn't exactly what you'd hoped for, my lord." Gohan said. His fingers blurred, and the final piece snapped into place. Again. Gohan checked his scouter for the time. Just over four seconds. Better, but not quite.

Radditz sneered at his young subordinate. "What _is_ that you are fiddling with?"

Gohan reset the cube, and smirked up at his commander. "A puzzle. You wouldn't understand." His fingers blurred again. Three-point-eight seconds.

Radditz scowled. "Don't underestimate me, boy. Give it here."

Gohan shrugged and tossed him the cube. He loved watching the other Saiyan Elite make idiots of themselves trying to keep up with his intellectual capabilities. _That's the problem with a hierarchy based on power readings at birth_, Gohan thought. It was a good thing King Vegeta was no fool, or the Saiyan Empire would have collapsed a long time ago.

Radditz growled at the cube for a few moments. Gohan mentally counted down from ten. As Gohan reached zero, Radditz looked over at Gohan and asked, with as much bluster as he could manage, "What am I supposed to do with it?"

Gohan had to hide his smug smile. "And that, _my lord_, is why you are here in the Royal Forces building and not over at Imperial Military headquarters."

Radditz' eyes narrowed. He could tell he was being insulted, but he wasn't sure how. After all, being a Lord of the Royal Forces was a higher rank than any officer in the general saiyan army. That was for weak third-class riff-raff.

Gohan didn't have the heart to tell him that, no matter how strong or terrifying the handful of elite fighters in the Royal Forces were, the Imperial Military probably did more to ensure the day-to-day survival of the empire than Radditz would ever contribute in his life. A galaxy was large. Millions of people were required to run it. Gohan thought his commanders in the Royal Forces often forgot that fact.

"Never mind, my lord," Gohan said smoothly, walking over to pluck the Earth toy out of Radditz' fingers. "You were here to debrief me?"

"Yes." Radditz scowled, accepting the change of subject with more grace than Gohan expected. "What were you thinking, halfbreed? There was no need to toy with the Z-fighters that way. You almost got left on an unnamed moon in the middle of neutral space where anybody could have captured you."

Gohan pocketed the Rubix Cube. His eyes flicked to the screen that Gohan knew covered a back entrance to the briefing room.

"I did what any _full-blooded_ saiyan would do when confronted with a challenge." Gohan said. "I suspect that's what I was supposed to do, wasn't I…King Vegeta?"

The king smirked as he stepped out from behind the paneling, applauding slowly. Radditz gasped and fell to one knee with a startled '_my lord_.' Gohan simply bowed with a smile.

"Sharp as ever, brat." Vegeta said. He threw Radditz an irritated glare. "Get up, Lord Radditz." He said. "You're slipping."

Radditz stood hastily and almost looked contrite. Gohan did not miss the angry vibes the older man was sending him, however. The young captain winced internally. He knew Radditz would find some way to punish him later for making him look like a fool in front of the king.

Vegeta returned his attention to Gohan. "So, brat." He said. "Did you draw out the human's new secret weapon?"

Gohan couldn't help but smirk. "It would have been less stressful if you had told me why I was really escorting that cargo ship in the first place. I would have approached the battle differently." He said. "Even so, she was very…feisty."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "_She?_"

Gohan frowned. "Yes." He repeated. "She. The Z-fighters had female super saiyan about my age among them."

For a moment, Vegeta just looked shocked. Then his mind caught up with his hearing, and he started cursing with expletives not even a grunt in the Imperial Army would use. Gohan had to fight not to cover his ears to protect them. They were starting to ring.

"--_A __saiyan__ Z-fighter!_" Vegeta roared. "How in the name of hell did they…they…" The king finally sputtered out. "A super saiyan fighting for the humans! It is impossible. This is dishonor."

Radditz mumbled something under his breath that even Gohan, with his saiyan hearing, couldn't catch.

Vegeta centered his glare on Radditz. "Speak of _him_ again and I will _kill you_."

Radditz, to Gohan's surprise, held Vegeta's glare evenly. Gohan's scouter began beeping as the ki levels started rising in the room.

Gohan stepped in. "I could not believe it either." The young captain said, trying to defuse the situation. "To fight for those pathetic humans is a disgrace no saiyan's pride should suffer." Gohan paused thoughtfully. "Not to mention I can count the number of female super saiyans on my hands. How could she appear out of nowhere?"

Radditz turned to Gohan. "Don't be an idiot, halfbreed. Obviously they must have raised her."

"But then why does she only appear now?" Gohan countered. "You never hesitated to put me on the battlefield."

"Perhaps she wasn't strong enough." Radditz sneered. "I do not know how a human's mind works. You are the expert on that, _halfbreed_."

Gohan did not let Radditz unbalance him. He turned to Vegeta.

"Clearly, sire," Gohan said, "You did not expect this development. What exactly did intelligence report?"

Vegeta had fallen deep into thought. "We only received a tip that the humans were testing some kind of new weapon in the X5-39 system. That they were confident it would be the key to ending this drawn-out war." The king suddenly smirked. "The informant described it as their next Cell."

Gohan gave a sharp bark of laughter. "_Cell?_ Have they been working on this for the last seven years?"

Vegeta shared Gohan's amusement in a rare moment of accord. "I had thought so." He said. "But if the humans think that one _traitor_ is going to defeat you when Cell could not, it seems my concern was misplaced. How strong was she?"

Gohan reflected on their brief fight. "I do not know." He finally admitted. "I wasn't given long enough to really test her." The hybrid captain couldn't resist throwing Lord Raditz a quick glare, which the older saiyan countered with an air of disdain.

"Still," Gohan said, returning to King Vegeta. "While she was technically proficient and strong enough to push me in my ascended form, she seemed extremely inexperienced. In fact…" Gohan trailed off, "She must have been raised by humans from birth. From the way she responded to me, I think I was probably the first saiyan she had ever met in battle. It was almost like she'd never seen the saiyan style of martial arts in real life."

Vegeta turned from Gohan to face the wall and think. Gohan studied his profile-- arms crossed, brow creased, and head lowered in contemplation. Vegeta was arrogant and cruel, but he was a good king and a perfect saiyan. Gohan would give his life for him.

"There must be more to this." Vegeta finally concluded. "I am still worried. All of the humans' plans in the past have tended towards mass production. Guns, bombs, the androids. I don't know how the humans plan to mass produce super saiyans, but it would be just like them to try."

"Your majesty," Radditz finally spoke. "You don't think they are attempting anything like your _hybridization _plan, do you?" Radditz managed to turn the word 'hybrid' into the worst slur possible.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at Radditz. "Watch your tongue, trash. My own heir is part of the hybrid program. When you defeat Gohan in single combat, you can throw out that croak-voiced scientist's research and scrap the project any way you like."

Gohan was taken aback at the amount of faith that statement implied. The prince was Vegeta's greatest pride.

Fortunately for Radditz, the saiyan lord backed down from his challenge after an assessing glance at Gohan. "It was out of line, your majesty." He said. Gohan smirked.

_That's right, you pompous fool_, Gohan thought. _You can jerk me around as my senior officer, but one day I'm going to kill you._ The young captain was looking forward to it.

Vegeta waved a hand dismissively. "Your imprudence is forgiven," The king said with a disdainful flare of his nostrils. He began to pace. "Nevertheless, you have stumbled across a point. I want to know what they are doing. We will have to dispatch another spy, since the one in place obviously cant do his job on his own, even for what we pay him."

"Send a chameleon." Radditz shrugged. "It's why we conquered their planet."

"I no longer trust the chameleons. The last one defected to the humans even with his family in our prisons. They are proving to be unpredictable subjects. I want a servant I can rely on."

"Then how about a saiyan soldier." Radditz suggested. "Captain Turunip has some experience with espionage. He did good work on BG-895."

King Vegeta stopped pacing to consider this. "Turunip would never pass for human civilian. He's too strong. We need someone inside their research facilities. If I can get one of our warriors on the planet, I want to take full advantage. I have half a mind to…" Vegeta's smirk grew devious. "Gohan!" He snapped.

Gohan jumped. He fumbled with the Rubix Cube he'd pulled out to play with again as soon as Vegeta and Radditz moved on to assigning personnel. "My lord!" The young captain said, flushing.

Vegeta frowned disapprovingly. "What _is_ that you are fiddling with?"

Gohan had a sudden sense of Déjà vu. To his side, Radditz smirked with the look of a saiyan offered a ten-course buffet.

"It's…" Gohan hesitated uncharacteristically. "It's a puzzle toy, sire. A Rubix Cube." He raised a hand and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Vegeta studied it skeptically. "A _human_ puzzle toy?" He asked. Gohan looked away in shame.

"Dr. Am gave it to me as an exercise," the young captain defended weakly. Which wasn't entirely a lie. Dr. Am had probably given it to Fraug, who had given it to Gohan. If possible, Radditz seemed to gloat even more conspicuously. Gohan prepared himself for punishment. He waited submissively for the first blow.

And waited.

And waited.

Vegeta did nothing. He merely smirked. No, he appeared almost _pleased_. Gohan opened his eyes and looked to his king in confusion.

"Gohan," King Vegeta said. "I'm sending you to Earth."

"WHAT!?!" Gohan and Radditz simultaneously erupted.

"You want _me_ as a spy on Earth?" Gohan yelped.

"Are you mad, your majesty?" Radditz sputtered. "If Turunip is too strong to hide as a civilian, Gohan is impossible!"

"You can't send me to Earth!" Gohan wailed. "I'd make a terrible spy!"

Vegeta silenced his subjects by blasting apart the conference table in the center of the room.

"Enough!" He roared, a vein throbbing in his temple. Gohan looked at the smoking remains of the conference table and swallowed hard.

"Gohan," Vegeta said sharply, "You would be the perfect spy. Here is why: Above all else, I want the saiyan traitor disposed of. You are certainly strong enough to do that, and if you are not, then we are doomed."

Gohan nodded mutely. Radditz scowled, but said nothing.

"Second," Vegeta strode over to Gohan and plucked the Rubix Cube from the captain's fingers, "Your other…talents…will potentially be useful in getting a position close to the project." Vegeta spun the toy around, examining its brightly colored plastic faces.

"My researchers tell me you are the most brilliant scholar to have ever come from our race. They treat you like a favorite child. You are well qualified to work in any lab in the universe, distasteful as that sounds. I have a feeling that some kind of elaborate science must be involved in the humans' latest project. The 'secret weapon' cannot be all it seems. I need you to uncover the humans' trickery, and further, _understand it_. If it is useful, learn or steal it."

Gohan thought Vegeta was treating technology like voodoo magic, but that was a typical saiyan attitude towards science.

"Third…" Vegeta pressed the Rubix Cube back into Gohan's dazed and unresisting hand. "You are a terrible liar, but you are also half human. I think you could pose as an Earthling just fine."

Gohan dropped the Rubix Cube like it was on fire. It clattered on the floor "My lord!" He protested. "You are mistaken. I am a saiyan to the core! I have _nothing_ in common with a pathetic human. Their blood may flow in my veins, but my soul is the same as any saiyan warrior's." He had spent his eighteen years of life trying to prove himself to his teachers, his subordinates, his peers. For it all to amount to nothing…

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Spare me your flowery nonsense." He said. "Brat, I have no doubt that you are more saiyan than most of my elite. You are the pride of our military. That's why I trust you to carry out this mission."

_The pride of our military_…Gohan's heat swelled. The young captain felt a mixture of shame at his earlier outburst and honor beyond speech.

"You'll need training, of course." King Vegeta conceded. "You will have lessons with The Woman on human culture every day for the next three weeks while we prepare to get you on planet." He scowled. "She will no doubt be delighted."

Gohan couldn't help but smirk. He liked Bulma. The human woman had shot to the top of the research department after being 'recruited' to participate in the hybridization program several years ago. She was a brilliant acquisition, no matter how often Vegeta grumbled about her. Watching the King and the mother of his heir forced to interact was always fun.

"Ahem." Radditz cleared his throat. Gohan and Vegeta turned to look at him in surprise. Gohan had almost forgotten he was there. "Aren't we forgetting something?" Radditz asked.

Gohan looked to Vegeta. The saiyan king seemed to be as blank as Gohan was.

"Gohan's power level!" Radditz snapped. "How by the Holy Full Moon are we going to smuggle the most powerful being in the universe onto Earth without a Z-fighter noticing? Have you forgotten? They don't even need scouters to read ki."

Vegeta scoffed. "I have an idea about that as well."

**A/N: **So, I hope my characterizations are okay. Gohan is still a little…cannon-Gohan-geeky when not on the battlefield. He comes off as very young and slightly naive, which is an intriguing kind of innocence considering that he must have more blood on his hands than Stalin and Hitler combined. And relishes in it.

Looking ahead through the pieces of chapters I've written so far, there's a lot more humor than I had originally foreseen. I'm posting this today, but I might take the next two weeks or so to tweak a little more and figure out how to work in more Dark!Gohan. I'm hung up on chapter five, Gohan's first day of school. I also need to do more plotting, to fill in the space between now and the World Martial Arts Tournament.

Tell me what kind of Gohan you'd like to see. Can you hang with a youthful Gohan for a while as he figures out Earth, or would you rather I try to delve immediately into the darker aspects of his psyche? (Um, but don't expect an angst-fest. Not until way down the road, when Gohan and Videl have to resolve their identities. I'm thinking more scenes with Gohan kicking ass and being slightly malicious. Possibly killing.)


	4. 03

Gohan stood stiffly as the guard at the desk fumbled for the right key card. It wasn't a saiyan, which surprised the young captain. This was, after all, the highest security prison on the planet if not the entire Empire. Some of the warriors contained in here could cause Gohan trouble. Guarding them was not a task to be entrusted to an inferior species.

"Ah!" Said the guard after a moment. He looked like a crocodile of some kind. "Founde it me lorde. Righte this waye." Gohan rolled his eyes and followed the creature.

"Prisoner 24601." The guard announced as they stopped outside a cell in one of the lowest levels. "Solitary." The door was flanked on both sides by two third-class saiyans. They recognized Gohan and nodded their heads in deference. Gohan smirked.

The crocodile guard came forward and reached out to touch Gohan's armor. Gohan frowned at the invasion of personal space and the alien froze.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gohan asked coldly.

"Ahhh…I'm supposede to pat ye downe…me lorde." The guard said hesitantly.

Gohan merely glared, and the guard slowly backed away.

"Right." The guard cleared his throat. "Well, here ye go." He slid the key card in the lock and scanned his hand after entering a pass code. There was a chink of heavy machinery unlocking, then the door slid open with a woosh. "Ye got thirtye minutes."

"I'll take as long as I need." Gohan said, blowing by the guard and entering the cell. He did not glance behind him as the door closed at his back. The cell was dark, and he let his eyes slowly adjust to the dim light.

"Back again, kid?" Came a voice from the shadows. "How long has it been this time?"

Gohan smirked as a cloaked figure came into view, floating legs crossed in meditation. Green skin shifted under folds of purple and white cloth. Deep black eyes opened to coolly regard Gohan under a meticulously wrapped turbin.

"Seven years, I think." Gohan replied. "You're not as big as I remember. Only just as green."

Piccolo snorted. "I hear you beat Cell."

"News must travel slowly in solitary, huh?" Gohan smirked. "But yes, I did. No thanks to any of your _help_."

The namekian warrior chuckled. "If you unlocked the second level, then I helped you more than you will admit. What is it you fight for, kid?"

Gohan raised his chin. "For the glory and pride of my King and my Empire."

"And to protect them." The namekian amended.

Gohan scowled. "Of course to protect them."

The namekian smirked. "Then that makes you more human than you could ever know. Like your father."

Gohan debated the merits of executing prisoner 24601 on the spot.

"My father was a saiyan." Gohan said.

Piccolo's smirk deepened. "Don't you want to know more?"

"I do not need to." Gohan growled.

Piccolo just continued to smirk. The minutes stretched.

Gohan tired of beating around the bush. "I need you to teach me." He said. "For real, this time."

The namekian sighed. "What else does anyone ever come here for? I have been meditating in this darkness for twelve years because I would not pass on the Z-Warrior's techniques. What makes you think I will change my mind now?"

"I am going to Earth." Gohan said. "To live among the humans."

"Oh?" Piccolo questioned. Gohan could tell he was piqued. _King Vegeta was right_.

"I need to hide my ki." Gohan said. "Or they'll probably kill me on the spot." He chuckled.

"I wouldn't blame them." Piccolo replied. "You are, after all, the Gold Fighter. The human's greatest enemy."

Gohan laughed dryly. "That stupid nickname really does get around, doesn't it?" He said without real mirth. "Even you know it, stuck in the bowels of a maximum security prison."

"It's a running joke with my guards." Piccolo explained. "Kid, even if I teach you how to suppress your ki, how are you going to blend in when you're such a famous figure."

"I've never appeared on the battlefield as anything but a super saiyan." Gohan said. "That's why I'm the 'Gold Fighter.' As far as I can tell, the humans don't even know my real name."

Piccolo closed his eyes again. "And what _will_ you be calling yourself on earth?"

Gohan frowned. "Son Gohan." The young captain said. "King Vegeta seemed to find it amusing." In fact, the king had thought it downright hilarious.

Piccolo's eyes flew open. "Son Gohan?" He repeated.

"Yes." Gohan scowled. "It sounds very human, doesn't it?"

Piccolo's gaze seemed to be fastened somewhere over Gohan's shoulder. Slowly, his eyes focused on the saiyan captain.

"You don't know the half of it, boy." He said. "I can see why Vegeta is amused."

Gohan's ki flashed. "That's _King_ Vegeta to you, Namekian scum."

Piccolo chuckled sadly. "_King_ Vegeta is playing with fire. Sending you to Earth with that name is tempting Dende."

"Who?" Gohan asked.

"My replacement as Guardian of Earth." Piccolo dismissed.

Gohan blinked. "Hold up," he said. "You were Guardian of Earth?"

"No, I was not." Piccolo replied.

"That makes no sense!" Gohan complained.

Piccolo was unmoved. "What do you know, boy?" He growled. "What would make sense to you, living on only half your heritage…maybe even less. Do you want to hear about your father?" he offered.

"Don't change the subject!" Gohan snapped. Red hot rage flooded his veins, and Gohan let it flow through his fists into the wall in a punch that dented the cold steel of the solitary cell. Calmer, Gohan pulled his hand from the crater and shook out his stinging fingers . He frowned at the mark; the steel should not have given so easily. The material was designed to absorb ki and strengthen with successively more powerful blows. Gohan had helped Bulma design it himself.

"Feel better now, kid?" Piccolo asked, sounding amused when he should have been terrified for his life.

Gohan shot him a dark glare. "This is why I hate talking to you. Everything comes back to my father."

Piccolo barely shifted. Gohan wondered if the Namekian really had been meditating in that same floating position for the last twelve years.

"Perhaps that is because everything _does_ come back to your father." Piccolo said after a moment. "Yet you don't even want to know who he was."

"I have no need to." Gohan spat. "I know he was a traitor to the Empire, and that is enough for me. Why should I care about a man I have never met?"

Piccolo smirked. "That's not true." Piccolo said. "You lived with him your first four years of life, on Earth. As a human."

Gohan's eyes narrowed. "Don't feed me lies again. I don't remember any of that."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow. "Do you remember your earliest years in one of your so-called saiyan 'nurseries?'"

Gohan bit his lip.

Piccolo's smirk resurfaced.

"I was born and raised on Planet Vegeta." Gohan insisted. "Not everyone remembers their childhood."

"Don't be stupid, kid." Piccolo countered. "You're not a fool. If your father was a hunted traitor and your mother was human, what was she doing on Planet Vegeta giving birth to you? Put it together, Gohan. Has anyone ever actually _told_ you that you've been here all your life?"

"…no." Gohan said quietly.

Piccolo nodded. "Even Vegeta isn't stupid enough to overtly lie to you. He just encouraged you to assume. Your pig-headed saiyan pride has ensured the rest."

"Do not insult a saiyan's pride!" Gohan interrupted hotly. "It is the basis of our honor, our warrior's code!"

Piccolo raised his head skyward, as if pleading for patience. "Kid, that is exactly what I am talking about."

Gohan turned aside for a few moments to fume. This conversation was turning into a repeat of their encounter seven years ago, when Gohan was just a naïve little boy desperately searching for an advantage in his impending battle with Cell.

"Stop sulking, kid." Piccolo said. "It doesn't suit you."

Gohan had to give the floating namekian a little half-smile. "I'm not doing a very good job of convincing you to train me, am I?" He said.

"No," Piccolo growled. "You've done an excellent job. Sit down and learn."

**A/N:**

Soooo…Good news and bad news. The good news is I've written straight to chapter 16. That's like three months worth of weekly updates. The bad news is I still haven't written chapter five, so I can't post any of it until I bust that block!

I'm switching to Friday updates. I'm updating today, and chapter four will come out on schedule Friday next week. But if I don't write chapter five, nothing more will happen until I do. x_x

I want to thank everyone for their feedback on Gohan! It really helped me recognize him as a multi-faceted character. I hope most of you will be pleased with the way he develops.

Until next week!


	5. 04

Gohan would not admit that he was nervous, squatting on a hard and cramped seat in the cargo hold of a retreating Human Federated Union ship.

For the fifth day straight, the saiyan captain was packed shoulder to shoulder with travel-worn humans fleeing Beta Zeta. The lucrative mining colony had just been captured by the Saiyan Empire in a brutal blitz led by Gohan's unit. Gohan had easily shed his armor in the confusion, slipping to the front of panicking throngs to be pushed roughly aboard the last emergency transport craft by a distracted human soldier. The military ship took off without ever questioning its passengers. Simple. Cunning.

_I feel sick…_

It had been a deviously elegant plan at the time. Now sobbing humans pressed in all around him, reeking of unwashed clothes and infected wounds, desperation and defeat. It made Gohan want to retch.

"You evah been to Earth, boi?" Nattered a wrinkled old man crammed across from the saiyan captain. His knobby knees bumped uncomfortably into Gohan's shins while leathery sun-worn skin sagged slack on twig-like arms. He glared at Gohan through milky, glazed eyes.

_Such infirmity would not be tolerated on Planet Vegeta_, Gohan thought. He had never seen someone so…old…in his life.

"I ain't been back fo so long, seems like I waz born on that danged death trap. Them saiyans can have it!"

A young woman with bushy hair tied back in a low bun smiled at Gohan apologetically. She put her arm on the old man. "Hush now, grandpa." She said. "You don't mean that."

"Ha!" The old man barked. "You don' know what'chu talkin' about, girl. I know _you_ ain't nevah seen Earth. Beautiful mutheh Earth…" He turned to another refugee on the ship, a mother, and flashed her a yellow-toothed grin. The woman smiled weakly, cradling a sleeping infant in her arms. The wide-eyed child next to her shied away and clutched at her mother's tattered clothing.

"You realize that, woman?" The old man said. "We waz all gunna die on that rock. No money to get home. I bet you waz born on that rock too. Girl, you oughtta bless them bloody saiyans!" The old man spat on the grimy steel floor. Gohan shifted his leg out of the line of fire at the last second to avoid the disgusting fluid.

"Grandpa!" The fuzzy-bunned girl admonished.

A dark-skinned soldier muscled his way down their aisle. "Is everything all right here?" He asked in a deep voice, slinging a plasma rifle over his shoulder. Gohan assessed him speculatively. Androids who couldn't focus ki were beneath his notice on the battlefield. Concealed under a human costume, Gohan's tail twitched.

Apparently the other refugees saw him as a greater concern. The old man's granddaughter tightened her grip on the geezer's boney arm. "There's no problem sir." She said nervously. "We're all fine.

The old man snorted. "Fine? _Fine?_ Don'chu pat-ro-nize _me_ girl!" He shook of her hand. "An' you neither, you cyborg sunnova cog wheel!" He said to the soldier.

The soldier narrowed his eyes. He pushed closer to the group. Gohan could smell anxiety wafting off the other passengers.

"I tell you all somethin'." The old man announced loudly. "I waz in my prime when them first ships wen' inta outta-space. I waz a ripe old age when dey started loadin' you boys up with metal. And you ain't don' a GOD-DANGED MUTHA--"

The old man suddenly slumped in his seat, out cold. The man's granddaughter shrieked, then checked his pulse and calmed down.

"Is he alright?" The human soldier asked.

"I…I think so." The young woman said. "It looks like he fell asleep. Maybe. It's been a lot of stress for everyone."

_No kidding_. Gohan thought, surreptitiously wiping his hand on his trousers. Touching a worm was disgusting. _His whining was hurting my ears. I should have left him with something more permanent than a short nap. Maybe he's so feeble he won't wake up. _

"Good." The guard said, and stalked back to his station. Gohan resisted the urge to make a face at the back of the retreating android. Stupid human didn't even see him move. Everyone on this ship was weak, weak, weak!

Sitting back, Gohan closed his eyes and said a prayer to the full moon. How was he going to survive among these people?

* * *

_No, no, no!_ Gohan thought the trip to Earth was bad. Earth itself was worse. He wasn't entirely sure where he was now, but it probably wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"Orange…Star…High School." Gohan read the sign slowly. He had studied the human language for as long as he could remember, among other tongues, but it still took him a moment to translate.

A school. A center of learning. The human equivalent of a Saiyan nursery?

Gohan was not in the right place at all. The saiyan captain took a moment to think back to his arrival on the planet.

His ship had touched down on the landing pad in the early morning. A soldier had tried to haul him roughly to his feet, and Gohan narrowly avoided killing him. Then he had been herded outside in a parade of fetid rags and shuffling human feet. Tall, bubble-like buildings crowded the sky He recalled thinking that Earth smelled polluted with the trash that inhabited it.

There had been a throng of people on the edge of the runway. They surged at the barricade shouting so loudly that it hurt Gohan's sensitive ears, and waved lots of posters in every direction. Most of the slogans made little sense, but many had the words 'kill' and 'Saiyan' on them. Gohan had been amused.

Then he had been lead to a small, blank room where he and the other refugees were given a stack of papers and forms, and a pen to fill them out. The old man from the ship started causing trouble again, and all semblance of organization pretty much went to hell.

Gohan hadn't been sure what to do. His contact was supposed to meet him at the spaceport, but no one had given him the sign. Gohan left the holding room to look for help. Then there had been the 'escalator' machine…

…and a 'car'…and the 'jet'… and the cat–woman…

Gohan tugged at his hair in frustration. Well, it was no use now. At least he was still in Satan City, the military capital of Earth's government. It had once been Orange Star City, but was renamed after the human's leading general Satan Hercule.

_Hercule the hero, my tail._ Gohan snorted. Gohan had met Hercule on the battlefield once. It was the day he killed Cell. The man had done nothing but mug for the cameras and human reporters crowding the scene. After Gohan killed the android monstrosity, 'General' Hercule had been nowhere to be seen.

Gohan surveyed the landscape. It never seemed to stop moving. The air was filled with 'jet' and 'copter' machines to help the humans fly. Gohan had already gathered from Bulma that ki training was not the norm in human society, but this was ridiculous! The patterns of traffic flow in the sky were dizzying.

Gohan swallowed back his pride. Maybe someone inside had directions back to the spaceport.

Beyond the gate with the sign was a wide, tree-lined courtyard led to a tall, blank-faced building. It looked institutional. Gohan was strongly reminded of the squat, industrial construction style that characterized Planet Vegeta although this building had a large decorative star on the front. The doors slid open automatically.

"Excuse me," He said to the first human he encountered. "I am looking for directions. Can you help me?"

The human, a stout woman with strange, stiff brown curls that looked less like hair than some kind of cemented plastic, blinked owlishly behind large, red-rimmed glasses.

Gohan wondered if the human had misheard. "Excuse me," He repeated. "I am looking for—"

"Yes, yes!" The woman cut him off. "I heard." She said. Her voice was nasally and her fussy hands had too many rings and bangles. They could only get in the way in a fight. "I'm not going to ask why you're late, or why you came to the induction tour dressed like something the cat dragged in, but the last group just left that way." She pointed down a hall.

Gohan did not think that was the way to the spaceport. "Excuse me," He tried again, "I—"

Gohan stumbled as the woman gave him a surprisingly strong shove. "Shoo! Shoo!" She said. "Videl has a temper, the dear girl. You'd better hurry up!"

Gohan feebly fended off her pudgy hands, which were now swatting at him like a stray animal. Obviously this woman was incompetent. Or insane. Perhaps 'Videl' could give better directions. He set off down the hallway at an easy jog.

"No sprinting in the hallways!" The woman yelled after him.

As he neared the end of the corridor, Gohan picked up voices coming from an open classroom. He slowed down to a crawl and peered around the door.

"Alright you maggots!" A blue-eyed girl with black pigtails was shouting at a cowering group of fifteen-year-olds. Her gloved fist was planted firmly on her hip, and an orange badge was pinned to the edge of her oversized white t-shirt. "You all know who I am, but I don't know who you are! Introductions, starting from the right!"

Gohan figured this was Videl. Dear girl with a temper indeed. "Excuse me." The saiyan captain interrupted. "I am looking for—"

Videl whirled to glare at Gohan. "Aha! A straggler. There's one every year." She eyed Gohan critically. "Aren't you a little old for a freshman?"

Gohan had no idea what a freshman was. "I think you are mistaken. I'm—"

"A transfer student," Videl snorted. "Obviously. Take a seat."

Gohan was at a loss. He had never been ordered around by a civilian female like this before. No one would ever dare! Well…except maybe Bulma, but she was of a comparably high rank among the slaves, and one of Gohan's tutors. He forgot about returning to the spaceport and took a seat.

"Alright then." Videl said, satisfied. "Names. We'll start with you." Gohan realized she was pointing at him. Making an example, he supposed.

"Gohan." The young captain said. Videl looked like she was waiting for more. Gohan remembered that humans used last names.

"Son Gohan." He amended.

Videl cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. "You know," she said, "You seem really familiar. Have we met before?"

Gohan chuckled. This was his first day on Earth, let alone Orange Star High School. "No, I am sure we have not." He said.

Videl's gaze lingered on him dubiously, before focusing on the pale boy cowering in the seat next to Gohan. "Next." She ordered.

The introductions went quickly. There were about thirty kids in the room, edgy and flustered, but Videl had them organized and ready to go in ten minutes. They marched down the halls in double-file as she pointed out features of interest. When a kid tried to spit his gum on the sidewalk while the group paused outside the gymnasium for questions, Videl literally had him hung by his ear and peeling off the sticky mess with his fingers.

"I told Chiku Ret he couldn't blow a bubble with ten pieces at once." A boy in front of Gohan stage whispered to his partner. "Idiot never listens." His partner, a thin girl in tall metallic heels that Gohan speculated could double as some kind of weapon, giggled.

Three seconds later they were both down on their knees helping Ret scrape gum.

Gohan had to work to contain his laughter. "She seems more like a saiyan than a human." He murmured in amusement. Her whole manner reminded him strongly of the old biddies who ran the saiyan nurseries.

"Eh," said the short boy paired with Gohan. Videl had put them together just to emphasize Gohan's towering height compared to the other, younger students. "She's General Satan's daughter, what do you expect?" The boy shrugged.

Gohan hadn't realized he'd spoken out loud. But that was irrelevant. He focused on the brusque girl marshalling over the three kids scraping gum with new appraisal. That was General Satan's beloved daughter?

Captain Gohan-- pride of the Saiyan Royal Forces, terror to the Human Federated Union, strongest being in the universe-- was within five steps of the daughter of one of Earth's most powerful military and political figures. Unguarded. Gohan wondered if there was some way he could make use of this. The ransom would be incredible. Should he just knock her out here, hide her, and send for one of his men to pick her up? Would that jeopardize his main objective?

"Are you two plotting something?" Videl snapped in their direction. Both boys mutely shook their heads.

Eventually the tour moved on to the science wing. It had been rebuilt last year with a grant from General Satan's personal fortune, and was completely state of the art. Gohan found himself in a researcher's dream.

"You have a full genome sequencing device!" He exclaimed. "And a multi-material rapid prototyping printer for every computer!" Even Bulma and Dr. Am had to share the prototyping machine on their floor.

"Yes, well." Gohan's partner shifted his glasses, looking up at the young saiyan like he was insane. "Orange Star High School actually has a partnership program with the city's military research facility. A Red Ribbon Army contractor usually comes to lecture at least once a month. Didn't you know?"

Gohan shrugged.

"Jock." The boy mumbled under his breath.

"Miss Videl, Miss Videl!" Exclaimed a girl near the front of the tour. She was jumping up and down while waving her hand even though she was practically under Videl's nose.

"Yes, what is it?" Videl sighed, trying not to get smacked.

"Is it true that the students sometimes get invited to participate in test studies with companies like the Red Ribbon Army?" The girl asked. "Is it? Because I would _so_ love to help test top-secret weapons."

Videl narrowed her blue eyes at the girl. "Sometimes. For publicity." She muttered before turning away.

"Ooooh!" The girl squealed. "I knew it! I told you my brother got to fire the new M-396 plasma rifle four months before it was issued. But you said I was lying!"

The other girl she was shrieking at scoffed and turned up her nose.

"Okay, maggots!" Videl shouted to the group. "That's enough of the science wing! Next up is the theatre!" A few people groaned, including Gohan's partner, but they shuffled out after Videl anyway. They didn't want to imagine the alternative.

Gohan, meanwhile, was mulling over this latest information. A human educational facility not only attended by General Satan's daughter, but supported by the leading human military technology companies. Unbelievable. Could it be used as a starting point to gather information on that Saiyan he'd met on the moon of X5-39?

Probably not, Gohan snorted. Whatever the relationship between Orange Star High School and the Red Ribbon Army, these were just kids. As if they'd have clearance for a project so high-level even King Vegeta's spies couldn't get accurate information on it.

At the very least, the knowledge was useful if Gohan ever had to plan a raid of the city.

"Okay, that's it for the tour." Videl said, clapping her hands twice. Gohan looked around and realized he was back outside the classroom he had started at. "Anyone have anymore questions? No? Good. Go home and come back by 7 a.m. Monday next week. Dismissed!"

Half the tour group breathed out a visible sigh of relief. The other half swarmed Videl and started asking her a multitude of things that seemed to have nothing to do with the school at all. To Gohan's bewilderment, they kept shoving pens and pieces of paper in her face, having her sign her name on each scrap. One kid bent over double so Videl could write on his back.

"What are they doing?" Gohan asked the short boy with glasses who was still standing next to him. "Is this some kind of Earth ritual?"

"You're kidding, right?" The boy replied, incredulity written across his face. "They're getting her autograph. Where are you from?"

"A long way away." Gohan replied. Which reminded him, he was supposed to be trying to get back to the spaceport. Earth was so distracting! "Could you tell me how to find the spaceport?"

The boy shook his head in disgust. "You jocks all think you're so funny. The entrance standards for this place get lower and lower every year." He wandered off.

Gohan was beginning to get very annoyed. Communicating with humans was impossible. Or maybe just civilians. How hard was it to get directions to a spaceport? Perhaps Gohan should just blow his cover and fly over the city until he spotted it.

Gohan fumed for a few minutes while he decided where to try next, when suddenly he noticed that he and Videl were the only ones left in the room. The human girl had her back to him, erasing the tour agenda from the classroom white board. No witnesses in sight.

Gohan sighed. It seemed there was only one way to get information from a human. Intimidation. It worked well enough with their prisoners of war.

Gohan strode silently up to the girl from behind. Her messy black pigtails fanned over her shoulders, looking so smooth and silky in a way stiff saiyan hair never would. Gohan was tempted to touch it, to see what it felt like.

_Focus. _The saiyan captain shook his head. If he hadn't allowed himself to be so distracted by all of the bizarre and incredible things he'd encountered today, he wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place. Compared to the fabulous high technology employed in mundane use on this planet, human hair should rank fairly low on his list of the wonders of Earth.

Gohan laid a heavy hand on Videl's shoulder. "Girl," he growled.

The world slipped out from underneath Gohan. "Ooof!" he cried, shocked. The saiyan captain found himself on the linoleum floor, blinking up at fluorescent track lights. What in the Bluntz Wave was _that_?

"Oh my gosh!" Videl gushed. Her crystalline, human-blue eyes came into view above  
Gohan. "I'm so sorry! It was reflex! Are you okay?"

Gohan blinked some more. Had he just been tossed by a _human civilian female_? He ran the moment over in his mind. It was a beautiful, flawless move.

"Gohan? Gohan!"

"GOHAN!" Boomed a second voice.

Gohan's head whipped to the door. A wrinkled old man in a ludicrously tall black hat was standing in the hallway. Gohan could not miss the Red Ribbon logo emblazoned boldly on the front of his headgear.

"Dr. Gero!" Videl cried. Gohan's eyes widened. That was _the_ Doctor Gero, founding member of the Red Ribbon Army? Creator of Cell?

Another head peered around the door. Gohan could not mistake that bushy afro anywhere.

"Daddy!" Videl exclaimed.

_General Satan_. Gohan's jaw worked silently. What was this, a gathering of the Saiyan Empire's top assassination list? Gohan's ki began rising for battle and he had to struggle to shove it down. '_Clear your center_…' Piccolo's infuriatingly composed voice instructed in his mind.

"Videl!" General Satan yelled. His booming, ringmaster voice did not help Gohan's attempt at spiritual tranquility. "Did you knock out another classmate again?" He said with a hint of admonishment.

"Well…" Videl hedged, still kneeling over Gohan.

"Atta girl!" General Satan whooped, storming into the room and sweeping up his daughter in a bone-crushing hug. He almost stepped on Gohan's face as he swung the petite girl in a circle. "You crush any boy who tries to touch you." General Satan looked down at Gohan. "You here that, boy? I won't allow my little girl to date anyone who can't beat her in battle."

Gohan eyed the girl's small human frame. _Are you kidding me?_ Gohan mentally gaped at the absurdity. He tried to ignore the fact that he was looking up at her from his back on the floor.

General Satan blinked. He bent closer to Gohan and rubbed a hand on his stubbled chin.

"Have I seen you before, boy?" He asked thoughtfully. "That jaw line…almost like one of those saiyan monkeys, no offense. You remind me of someone. Can't put my finger on it, though."

Gohan stiffened. Was his cover blown? It suddenly struck Gohan just what a _dangerous_ position he was in. The saiyan captain could kill the General in the blink of an eye, but could he get off the planet afterwards? How many guards would he have to kill outside? The thin human clothes he wore over his saiyan tail was a flimsy disguise. Threats on this mission could not be assessed in terms of the battlefield. Thinking back, silencing the old man in front of a human soldier had been incredibly _stupid_.

"No…sir. I don't think we've met." Gohan ground out, sitting up.

"Hah." The general said. "That's right. Where would I meet such a weak-looking little boy. Look at those scrawny arms."

"_Daddy!_" Videl swatted her father.

Gohan scowled. _I'll show you scrawny arms, you human trash._ He thought.

"Ah-hem." Dr. Gero cleared his voice behind the odd group. Three heads swiveled to look at him. "As amusing as this exchange has been, I must interrupt. Gohan has lots of paperwork to fill out to complete his transfer for next week."

As he was speaking, Dr. Gero's fingers flashed in the traditional sign code of the Saiyan Royal Forces. _Silent_. _Plan to begin_. _Come with me_.

Gohan's eyes widened. It was a good thing he was already on the floor. _Dr. Gero_ was his contact!? The old scientist's moustache twitched over the ghost of a smile.

"Ahhhh!" General Satan abruptly bellowed in recognition. Gohan found himself swamped by Satan Hercule's grasp, pulled roughly to his feet. "Gohan! The war orphan you were going on about!" The general started carelessly brushing down Gohan's worn and ki-scorred jacket, his camouflage as a refugee from Beta Zeta. Gohan fought down the instinct to side-step the man's attentions.

"Say." The general paused. "Shouldn't you still be at the spaceport going through customs and debriefing?"

Gohan's mind raced. "I…"

"I pulled a few strings to get him here on time for the induction tour." Dr. Gero cut in smoothly. "You know how _tedious_ paperwork can be. All that red tape. It's so stressful for a poor refugee who just lost his entire family."

General Satan weighed Dr. Gero's words, and laughed. "Yeah, I don't blame you. Those bureaucrats can be real heartless. Welcome to Earth, kid." He thumped Gohan on the back. The saiyan resisted the urge to spit in Hercule's face.

Dr. Gero laughed along with the general. "Wouldn't want him to miss the tour and get lost on his first day, would we?"

General Satan laughed harder. "No, I suppose not!"

Gohan did not see what was so funny. He glanced at Videl, who looked like she'd missed the humor too. Their eyes met, and Gohan had a strange feeling. It was almost like camaraderie. The saiyan looked away.

"Well!" General Satan boomed, his hysteria dying down. "I won't hold you any longer. Get going, boy. If you have any problems at school, just ask my sweet pea here! But don't you dare put any moves on her, or you'll end up on your back again, got it?" He added menacingly. "And I'll do worse."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure dad." She muttered.

"Not a problem at all, sir." Gohan said. As if he'd touch a human like that anyway!

"Good!" General Satan said. He gave Gohan one last whack on the back. "Now get gone!"

Gohan stumbled forward. Making a show of rubbing his back, he allowed Dr. Gero to escort him from the room. The old man's grip tightened crushingly on Gohan's arm once they were outside.

"What in Dende's name are you doing here, boy!" The scientist hissed. "How did you get out of the spaceport? _Why_ did you leave the spaceport?"

Gohan scowled. "Me?" He scoffed in hushed tones. "Where were _you_? I had no idea what was going on. Of course I left. No one briefed me on any of this."

The scientist sighed exasperatedly. "You damn fool saiyans. Can't think anything through."

"Hey!"

"You can't just show up on a planet and wander off as you please. There are customs and naturalization, procedures to track arrivals and departures. You could have compromised your false identity. You have no idea what I'm going to have to do to correct this."

_Oh I'm so sorry_. Gohan thought. He sneered. "Well then fix it, Dr. Gero. I won't apologize for you not being there on time."

Dr. Gero spared the young captain a withering glare.

"I don't know how you managed it," the scientist said after a moment, "but at least you _ended_ _up_ in the right place."

Gohan looked down at the man. It was true. The scientist had said something to General Satan about enrollment.

"Am I really going to attend this facility?" Gohan asked.

Dr. Gero smirked. "What did you think of their science wing, Captain?"

Gohan let himself drift off in pleasant memory. "It was incredible. The equipment was most impressive. Far ahead of what we have available even in the Royal Research Department."

"Can you use any of it?"

Gohan scoffed. "Of course I can." He said.

Dr. Gero twitched his mustache. "I'll believe that when I see it. But you must know by now that my Red Ribbon Army lectures and funds the program."

Gohan nodded. "Yes. That does not directly help me get access to the files in the military research complex, though." Come to think of it, if Dr. Gero was Vegeta's spy, why couldn't _he_ steal proper information on the project?

Dr. Gero smirked. "You are absolutely correct, boy. It doesn't help you all that much. That's why you've got this." Dr. Gero handed Gohan a small plastic card with a magnetic strip, reflective seal, and terrible picture of the saiyan captain. _When was that taken?_ Gohan wondered.

"You are now officially a participant in the Orange Star High School internship program. They only give out two of these a year, so count yourself lucky I've still got _some_ influence in the Army. That little card cost me a fortune in favors, and I haven't got many left these days."

Gohan raised an eyebrow. Is that what this was about? He wondered just what the backroom politics were that caused Dr. Gero to turn traitor.

"Who's the other intern?" Gohan asked.

Dr. Gero's smirk deepened. "Satan Videl." He replied.

**A/N:**

It's Aloha Fri-day, no work 'till Mon-day~ Hey!

Okay, that was harsh, but I busted butt to completely revise the first 700 words of this chapter in time for posting this evening. 'Cause I promised lol. When I re-read it this morning I almost thought I'd have to delay until tomorrow it was so terrible. I hope it wasn't too much filler…this chapter is twice as long as my goal per update, but I think it's fun.

On chapter five. Errrrrr. I've done nothing. I'm seriously blocked. I mean, come on, how many times has Gohan's first day at school been done before? I don't want to just rehash cannon and fanon. I have some ideas, but what do you guys envision happening? I kind of want to have a baseball game, like in the anime, but Gohan needs to end up in the infirmary. Bleeeeeeeeeeh…

(Thanks for the reviews last chapter! Aozora: I'm so glad I saw your review before I updated. I was surprised no one else commented. I mean, come on? Two-Four-Six-Oh-OOOOOONE!

Yeah. I've decided to let Gohan be light when he wants to be, and dark when it counts. If you think his attitude is kind of nasty, remember how Vegeta was when he first came to Earth. It's kinda like that. He's got a lot of the same prejudices, which will eventually get corrected. At the same time he's also young, easily distracted, and on a mission kind of outside his range of experience. Hilarity is bound to happen.)


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